Myanmar Media and Society (M.MAS) Project

Myanmar Media and Society (M.MAS) Project

The Myanmar Media and Society (M.MAS) project is a partnership between the Programme on Modern Burmese Studies at St Antony's College and the Myanmar IT for Development Organization (MIDO).

The M.MAS project was convened out of a desire to better understand the production of violence in Myanmar and to use this understanding to support local groups working for peace. Of particular interest are the ways in which a developing media sector in the country and a growing online community influence people’s perceptions and priorities during Myanmar’s political transition. These pages will include working papers, policy briefs, media articles, and other outputs from the project that will also be disseminated to government, international, and civil society actors in Myanmar and globally.

Phase I of the M.MAS project ran from 2015-2016 and focused on research methodology and theory trainings for young activists as well as research into the narratives that justify religious violence as well as the actions that seem to have been effective in preventing the escalation of conflict in some parts of Myanmar. A more detailed explanation of the project as well as its outputs can be found here.

Phase II of the M.MAS project has run from 2016-2017 and continues the research and theory trainings begun in Phase I. The research focus is on “peace histories,” narratives of peaceful inter-religious coexistence. This oral history research will ultimately be published as a book in both Myanmar and English languages and disseminated through other multimedia platforms. A more detailed explanation of the project as well as its outputs can be found here.